Realistically speaking this episode was sorta disappointing, in more than one reason. First lets bring up the fact that a salking was used and for the first time ever they actually used his ability in the anime, which was random because most abilities are never used aside from special episodes and starters. Second: the no switching. I didn't see it in sub (need to wait) so im hoping that they said that their are no switches allowed, if they didn't say that, im just upset at this whole thing. Third: The battle sequence. The main point of this episode started almost halfway through it. I know that it just starts, but past tournaments battles against rivals started almost immediately (like 5 - 10 minutes in) The battle itself made me think I was watching a pokemon battle from a game on my screen. It was just an exchange of attacks until someone fell. Fourth: the "expected" cliff-hanger. Im pretty sure some people expected something like the ending of this episode
I already knew something like "do something like ash" after he looked at his notebook, basically copying ash in battle.
Hopefully the next episode will better along with the alain battle. If the battle with alain is not 6v6 it proves that they want this anime done to start on sun/moon
This my opinion. Im not saying I didn't enjoy it, I was just disappointed. If you enjoyed it that's good too.